Learn from others

Design your channel to help viewers immediately understand what type of fashion/beauty videos they can expect and encourage them to subscribe.

Create within existing formats and niches

The beauty and fashion community on YouTube has already created several native video formats that audiences respond to. Consider plugging into those first, and investigate the niche content that's already thriving on YouTube.

Possible actions you can take:

Get to know the style of videos and language of the community. Knowing the culture of the community is essential to providing content that will resonate with them. Explore popular channels and understand what types of videos appeal most to your target audience.

Experiment with existing formats and expand on them. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Test out some “tried-and-true” formats, and see if you can bring something new to them.

Organize similar formats into playlists. Some successful creators use playlists to organize videos that belong to the same series or a format they use often. Consider featuring your most popular playlists on the channel page.

Note: The strategies in this lesson are suggestions pulled from our experience with YouTube creators and are not promises or guarantees for success.

See it in action

Amenakin (top) is a popular Middle Eastern channel specializing in hijab style and tutorials. BubzBeauty (bottom) includes nail design tutorials in addition to hair and makeup.

Popularity of formats used by beauty and fashion channels

Many successful channels use formats and keywords for their videos that are well known to their community. This chart shows the prevalence of formats based on video metadata keywords. The top six formats listed above are: how-to, tutorial, hair, haul, beauty and give-away.

Let your personality shine

YouTube’s most popular beauty and fashion channels often feature a single personality with whom the audience builds a strong connection. Beauty and fashion viewers want to take advice and learn from someone they can relate to.

Possible actions you can take:

Connect with your community on a personal level. Some creators have found that interacting with viewers in as many ways as possible can build a sense of community. Try hosting Hangouts on Air with top fans and offering personalized beauty advice directly to your audience.

Be yourself. Viewers are typically drawn to authenticity. Many top creators have found that by being yourself, you can help build strong connections with your community.

See it in action

Personalities of top beauty and fashion channels shine

The top beauty and fashion channels are dominated by unique and engaging personalities. They often build a personal connection with their viewers through interaction.

If your channel features a strong personality, find ways to showcase that. The “Draw My Life” videos series offers a great way to share an authentic personal history with viewers.

Feature your finished look

Viewers often want a taste of the end result so they'll know whether you're offering something that they can apply to their own look. Many successful creators recognize that a preview can get their audience interested enough to watch their video all of the way through.

Possible actions you can take:

Creators often feature the finished look in the thumbnail. That fabulous final result may inspire viewers to take the plunge and watch the whole video.

Preview the end result early on. As with thumbnails, showing a finished look early in the video can create an incentive to keep watching.

Write descriptive titles. Consider titling videos so that they explain what the video will cover and include the most important keywords.